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Have you noticed that we've really stepped it up over the past few games? It's become a real feature of our play to see the opposition swamped by up to three players. Our defensive efforts are turning over the ball quicker and allowing us to retain possession as well as win the ball in good areas of the pitch.

Yeah definitely. It's great. Very Barca-esque. I love it.

Thing is - if we play that level of pressing all the time even if we don't fully turn up on the attacking side of things we'll still turn over 80% of teams with relative ease.

Don't talk daft, Lehman says we're boring.

Boring, Boring City!

I like it a lot - I wish we'd keep the tempo higher for longer though, we still have a tendancy to slow down when we get the ball sometimes. Just my personal taste, and considering the workload they have over the season I probably can't expect it every match. (but those blitzes when they come are something else)

Very happy about this. I noticed in certain games a few weeks ago that our off the ball work rate needed to improve and I'm happy to say that it has. A lot of barca's success comes from the way they press the opposition so hard when they don't have the ball which means that they get it back very quickly

I really liked the defensive work and pressing that I saw out of Silva, Aguero, and Nasri vs. Bayern....maybe it was due to the game and its implications being so massive..i dunno, but it was a good sign.

AJ seems to be putting in alot more defensive work as well when he plays. I like it...almost Milner-esque.